Simon embraces opportunity with Atlanta ChiefsBy David Rutz
drutz@neighbornewspapers.com
Special / Atlanta Chiefs
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Atlanta Chiefs running back Dwayne Simon drags a defender from the Georgia Crush during a home game at Riverwood High School in Sandy Springs July 16.
He bounced around four different high schools, one prep school in Connecticut, and had a brief tour of duty at Hobart College in 2008.
There was a bid to join the Army that was derailed by asthma and lots of time in the gymnasium.
It has indeed been a winding road for running back Dwayne Simon, 22, in his quest to play professional football.
Now that he’s settled with the Atlanta Chiefs minor league football team in Sandy Springs, he’s heading straight toward his goals, and the Chiefs are reaping the benefits.
“I’m just taking the long way around,” Simon said. “If I make it somewhere, man, I’ve got a good story to tell.”
Through Atlanta’s first six games this summer, he’d rushed 52 times for 443 yards, good for 8.5 yards a carry, and nine touchdowns.
“He’s our horse right now,” said Chiefs coach Tyrone Johnson.
It’s a perfect reciprocal relationship. The Chiefs, who play in the Gridiron Developmental Football League, give aspiring pro players a venue to be discovered. And Simon has been the Chiefs’ most valuable offensive weapon.
The athletically gifted Simon is a self-confessed gym rat, working out upwards of three times per day. At 5 feet, 11 inches tall and 208 pounds but also with the speed to run a 4.42-second 40-yard dash, Johnson said Simon reminds him of a young Marshall Faulk.
“I’ve got a lot of coaches that tell me that I need to start hitting the seam more, because I if I see you coming in, I’m going to attack you,” Simon said. “I like to try to run through everybody.”
Georgia Tech has demonstrated interest in Simon, who has college eligibility remaining, as well as representatives from the Canadian Football League. Johnson and General Manager and team owner Stan Gay, who both played in the NFL, are also working on getting Simon a tryout with the Atlanta Falcons.
“I’m waiting on the first thing that opens up,” Simon said.
Simon called Johnson after moving from Florida to Georgia last year and learning about the Chiefs on Facebook. Johnson, who played for the San Diego Chargers from 1991 to 1994, worked him out personally.
“Anything that the NFL would put him through, I put him through,” Johnson said. “Everything they would do for a running back, I would do. He has an unbelievable ability.”
Gay was similarly impressed when he saw Simon during tryouts.
“He just stood out among all the athletes that we had to try out,” Gay said. “He’s one of those guys that instantly when you see him he’s something special.”
Simon’s father, Dwayne Sr., is a truck driver and had to move around a lot, so he went to four different high schools in the Northeast. After playing at Hobart College in Geneva, N.Y., in 2008, financial aid dried up and ended his time there. He then tried to join the Army, but because of his asthma, he was told he would have to wait nearly 18 months before becoming active. Not wanting to stay in limbo that long, he kept himself in shape in Boston and then in Florida before winding up in Georgia.
And the Chiefs are behind him all the way in his quest to get to the next level. Any time, a call could come that could change Simon’s future.
“We know that we need to keep him ready to go, but he does that already,” Johnson said.
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